This is for all you deal seekers! Here are the specials we’re running this week on Family Tree Magazine how-to genealogy books, CDs, back issues, webinars and more at ShopFamilyTree.com.

Thursday, Nov. 25: Thanksgiving Day only, you’ll get free shipping on any ShopFamilyTree.com US order. Even orders less than $25, and even products shipped from our retail partners that normally incur additional shipping charges.

Friday, Nov. 26 to Monday, Nov. 29: On Black Friday, you’ll receive 20 percent off your ShopFamilyTree.com order when you enter offer code is SFT133 at checkout. Some exclusions apply, including VIP membership, subscriptions, and products that ship directly from our retail partners.

If your gift list also has woodworkers, writers, artists, gardeners, fabric and yarn crafters, collectors, graphic designers, old car enthusiasts or hunters, you’ll want to take advantage of the F+W Media Friends and Family Free Shipping Special. (F+W is the publishing company that brings you Family Tree Magazine.)

This Thursday and Friday, Nov. 25 and 26, my friends and family (you qualify as one or the other!) can shop at any F+W online bookstore and get free shipping on US orders by using the offer code on this page.

Got holiday traditions and decorations on your mind? So do genealogy bloggers.

Starting December 1, many will be participating in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories blogging event.
Through Dec. 24, participating bloggers respond to blogging prompts by writing about memories related to the theme and their family history.

You can visit the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories blog to see the prompts (about cookie-baking, your childhood beliefs about Santa Claus, your Christmas stocking, and more) and link to bloggers’ posts.
If you blog and you’d like to participate, you’ll find the how-tos there, too.

Started as a bi-annual event in December 2007 on GeneaBloggers, the affair is now annual and has dozens of participants.
You can follow the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories on Facebook and Twitter.

Congratulations to Lisa Louise Cooke on the 100th episode of her Genealogy Gems podcast! This special episode celebrates the first 100 with a look at some of Lisa's favorite gems, interviews and milestones, plus some messages from listeners.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society is holding a technology-focused Weekend Research Getaway Jan. 27 to 29, 2011. The weekend will combine guided research at the NEHGS Research Library in Boston with educational lectures about using technology in your family search. Registration costs $300, or you can buy a day pass. See the program and register at AmericanAncestors.org.

Ancestry.com and National Geographic Digital Media have developed an online family history “experience” on the National Geographic Genographic Project website where visitors can learn more about researching genealogy and search their roots. They’ll be able to start an online family tree, get tips on doing family history, and links to Ancestry.com’s subscription record collections. The Genographic Project is a DNA study of the genetic makeup of populations around the world in order to chart the migration history of the human species.

Family network and genealogy site MyHeritage revamped its family tree charts feature with new designs site members can customize online and print for free.

The site also launched a professional poster-printing service for any chart produced on the website, as well as a chart design service.

If you have your family tree information on MyHeritage, you can click on the Family Tree tab on your family site, then select Charts and Books. Choose from 18 chart types, including new bowtie and hourglass designs. The MyHeritage version of the hourglass format is unique in that it can include the ancestors of any spouse.

You also can customize your chart with border designs, frames, backgrounds, decorations, colors and fonts. You can opt to include information such as names, birth dates, wedding anniversaries, photos and personal notes.

This is an example of a bowtie chart, with a nuclear family in the center and each parent’s ancestors on the sides.

You can export your chart for free in high-resolution PDF format to print or share via e-mail.

You also can order a professionally printed poster starting at $20. A variety of paper types (standard, matte photo, glossy photo, vinyl or canvas) and sizes (including huge wall charts for family reunions) are available, with optional lamination.

keyword-search the issues to find expert guidance on the family history records, resources and topics you need

print any articles you want for quick reference

tuck a year’s worth of how-to genealogy advice into your research tote for library trips

slip your slim CD case into a mere 1/4 inch of bookshelf space

Among the articles you’ll find in these eight issues:

Wide Open Spaces (November): 10 ideas for cutting clutter and getting your genealogy stuff under control

Census Extravaganza (May): A special section of articles on information censuses collected over the years, getting ready for the release of the 1940 census in 2012, and finding census records from your ancestors’ homeland

The coming changes will add an “Add an Event” link to the current birth and death date fields in the search form. Click that link, and you can use a pulldown menu select a type of event—marriage, military service, “lived in,” arrival or departure (the last two are in reference to immigration)—and then enter the year the event occurred.

In search forms for collections in which exact dates are indexed, including vital records databases and the Social Security death index, you’ll be able to enter a day, month and year for birth, marriage and/or death. Some forms also will get an “any event” date field you can use to type in the year of any life event that might be included in a record.

We were thoroughly impressed by all the entries we received, and wish we could pick all of them! The Family Tree Firsts blogger we selected is Nancy Shively of Skiatook, Okla. A genealogist of six months—since she discovered her mom had a brother who died in infancy—she’ll be researching mostly in Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennesse, Indiana and Canada.

Nancy reports she's excited to get started blogging, and adds “I am interested in my female ancestors but also in the military experiences of the men in my family tree. I love walking through old cemeteries. I want to know how my family fit in with larger events and trends in history.”

The genealogy tv show “Who Do You Think You Are?” returns to NBC for its second season Friday, Jan. 21 at 8 pm (7 central), according to the NBC website. It’ll help fill open slots during a mid-season shakeup that'll rearrange the schedule and cancel a few shows.

Genealogy blogs are a great way to find out about new resources, get reviews of websites and software, pick up research tips, and share in others’ family history searches. If you’re the blogger doing the sharing, you’ve probably met some wonderful genealogy folks (and possibly cousins) through your blog.

When you nominate a blog, you’ll give us the title and URL, optionally tell us why you’re nominating it, and put it into one of these eight categories (a few have changed from last year’s Family Tree 40):

Local/regional history and genealogy: blogs focusing on research in a specific county, state or region. Most library and archive blogs, as well as many local historical and genealogical society blogs, would go here.

Heritage groups: Blogs focusing on the family history of a specific ethnic, religious or national background (such as African-American, Jewish, Polish, etc.)

Research advice and how-to: Blogs that primarily explain how to research, analyze photos or perform various family history tasks. The blogger offers tips, strategies and examples; explains genealogical concepts; and writes about how to use new resources.

Cemeteries: These blogs feature content primarily about cemetery research and visiting cemeteries. Many feature tombstone photos and transcriptions, with information about those interred.

“My Family History”: Blogs about the blogger’s own roots, including accounts of personal research, their own family photos and heirlooms, stories, recipes, etc.

Family Tree Magazine editors and Family Tree 40 panelists will winnow out any blogs that aren’t qualified (see below) and, if necessary depending how many blogs are nominated, narrow the list of nominees based on the quality of the blogs’ content.

From Dec. 13 to 20, you all will vote on those finalists for the final Family Tree 40 blogs. The Family Tree 40 blogs, featuring five winners per category, will be revealed in the July 2011 Family Tree Magazine.

Qualifying blogs must:

be primarily about genealogy.

have original content (aggregators featuring posts from other blogs will be disqualified).

belong to a private individual or individuals, not to a business (a change from last year’s Family Tree 40). They may not exist primarily to market products.

be active, having at least four posts per month for the past three months (or, for blogs newer than three months, four posts per month since the blog has been in existence).

contain or link to information about the blogger(s), such as an “About Me” page.

not be hosted by a Family Tree 40 panelist or by Family Tree Magazine.

It’s been a good week for researchers with British and Canadian roots! In this genealogy roundup:

In honor of Remembrance Day, Canadian subscription genealogy site Ancestry.ca has added a huge collection of Canadian WWI death and burial records.

Canada, CEF Commonwealth War Graves Registers, 1914-1919 details the circumstances of death for more than two thirds of the 60,000 Canadian soldiers who fought and died in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom. Canada, CEF Burial Registers, First World War, 1914-1919 details temporary and final resting places of soldiers who died.

Ancestry.com and UK website Thegenealogist.co.uk have reached an agreement with the UK national archives to publish the 1911 census of England and Wales, the most recent UK census available to the public. The companies will work together to transcribe the census, creating a searchable database. Ancestry.com will add the records by county, starting in late 2010 and finishing up in 2011. (You can search this census now on subscription site 1911census.co.uk, operated by UK genealogy site FindMyPast.co.uk.)

British genealogy subscription site FamilyRelatives.com has added a million records from post office directories. Similar to phone books, these directories name local people and businesses. The growing collection currently covers more than 25 British counties and major cities, and spans nearly a century. Read more on FamilyRelatives.com.

British genealogy website FindMyPast.co.uk is working with FamilySearch to post online indexes and images of Welsh parish registers dating as far back as the 16th century.

FamilySearch will digitize about the images containing baptisms, marriages and burials; FindMyPast.co.uk will transcribe them. Over the next two years, you’ll be able to search a free index on FamilySearch, with the records available for a fee on FindMyPast.co.uk. In Wales, users will be able to access the records free through Welsh Archives Services.